


Fallout 4: Midnight Triad

by SnowBetty



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Alternate Reality, Drama, Drug Use, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Headcanon, Humor, If I can woman-up enough to write it xD, Mental Health Issues, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Romance, Slow Burn, well probably
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-14
Updated: 2018-04-16
Packaged: 2018-07-24 01:34:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7488207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnowBetty/pseuds/SnowBetty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Caution: Explicit language, Graphic Violence, Severe Air-Sickness and a Dangerously Adorable Dog.</p><p>After their arrival in what's left of the USA, former partners in crime Rivet, Jet and Phoenix decide to go their separate ways; forging their own paths after tragedy forced them to abandon their home. When Jet assembles the old crew for one last heist, it looks like things could finally be getting back on track. </p><p>But the Commonwealth is a dangerous place, and the shadow of the Institute knows no limits...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Heist

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TashJ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TashJ/gifts).



Wind in her hair, sun on her skin, fire in her lungs.

This was it, this was the moment she'd been waiting for.

The rushing air whipped through Jet's hair as she leaned feverishly out of the Snow Betty's side hatch, her sniper rifle gleaming heavy in her grip, her skin bright and pale in the sunlight. Even though her heart was beating furiously in her chest from the adrenaline, the nauseating experience of flying again was prickling her skin with a cold sweat.

Hands clammy, she braced herself with her back to the open bulkhead and closed her eyes with a laboured gulp, struggling to keep down her lunch. Damn this fly-sickness. Jet forced herself to be steady and looked outside again, stomach churning. The angular concrete buildings of the Poseidon Experimental Weapons Facility drew up close beneath her, all angles and shadows, filled with the promise of treasure inside. Jet reminded herself why she was there - all three of them were feeling it, the familiar thrill of the chase, the promise of riches inside. Her plan had united the team once more, and she was overwhelmed to feel like part of something again. She only hoped they could pull this off before her troubles caught up with her.

Another wave of nausea rolled through her insides and she suppressed her retching as the ship jerked in the turbulence. Her companions could never find out why she had really brought them here, there was far too much at stake. She knew they wouldn't understand, but she needed their help and if this was what it took to bring them all back together, she was willing to take that chance. But she wouldn't achieve anything if she spent the next hour throwing up, so she pushed her anxieties down along with the bile that was gurgling through her system and put on her bravest face.

“Approaching the drop zone. Let's roll, ladies,” Rivet's voice echoed coolly through the tinny sound of Jet's earpiece, her actual voice drowned out by the roaring engine of their airship. As she looked over her shoulder from the pilot's seat to check on her companions, her attention immediately locked on to Jet, who was grasping on to the side of the ship with white knuckles and looking like she was about to be violently sick.

“What's wrong, duck? Can't take the heat?” Rivet chuckled, but beneath the jibe her tone was kind.

Rivet was her older sister, always the voice of reason. With her unruly black hair pulled back into that familiar scruffy ponytail, dressed to the nines in torn fabric, leather belts and armed to the teeth, Jet could tell that she was exhilarated by the throwback to their past days of criminal mischief. Rivet had been the last of the three to get on board with this mission, and she had taken a lot of convincing. When things fell apart a few months back, she has switched her rifle for the more earnest pursuit of tending a grotty bar. But now as she sat there, at the helm of her beloved ship and wearing her customary six inches of eyeliner, Jet could tell she was in her element.

“Because you know what happens when you can't take the heat...” Rivet continued after ensuring her sister was okay, a sly smile twitching upwards at the corner of her mouth.

“GET OUT OF THE FUCKING KITCHEN!” roared Phoenix, their third and most boisterous companion, who was hanging out of the other side of the ship grinning fearlessly. The longsword strapped to her back glinted viciously in the sunlight. She was the complete antithesis of Jet's clusterfuck of nerves and nausea, looking like a wild thing with her bright ginger hair tearing through the sky, her pale blue eyes lit with sunshine and focused intently on the buildings below. Phoenix was their cousin, but realistically she was more like the youngest sister they never had. She was loud, proud and carefree, always living her life barrelling from one situation to the next. When Jet had found her back in Maine drinking a group of battle hardened mercenaries under a table she had signed up straight away, no questions asked. Phoenix might have been a loaded pistol but she could always be counted on, and the other two doted on her for it.

Jet had finally done it, she had brought them together for a heist. One last, real heist. They were going to show the world that the Snow Betty was far from retired, and in the most spectacular style possible. She gulped in a mouthful of the fresh air that was tearing in from outside and steeled her nerves, gripping her rifle with tense knuckles and clicking the safety off.

Rivet casually flipped a switch putting the ship onto remote control, and activated its cloaking device. She was brimming with easy confidence now that she was back in control of The Snow Betty, and had reconnected with the controls as though they were some long-lost part of her. Jet suspected that securing back the ship had been the thing that changed her mind about this mission.

Rivet stood up from the cockpit and made her way across the bridge in assured strides towards Jet's hunched figure at the airship's side door.

“Ready?” Rivet asked her sister gently, grey eyes evaluating her steadily and pulling her earpiece to one side so that Phoenix couldn't hear over the intercom. Unintentionally, Rivet had become somewhat of a leader over the years – she had never taken direct steps to exert authority but her steady pragmatism and refusal to cast aside responsibility had led her to become the foundation of the team. Under her care no real harm had befallen them since they had left England.

Despite being grateful for her sister's concern, Jet rolled her eyes. She couldn't help feeling a little annoyed at how her big sister always babied her. She wasn't a scared little girl in a strange new world any more – she was stronger now, and ready for anything – as long as whatever it was didn't involve prolonged bouts of fly-sickness.

“Fuck yeah.” Jet grinned queasily, trying to keep down a dry-retch as she spoke. Rivet raised an eyebrow, dubiously eyeing Jet's green pallor. But she accepted her sister's admission and briefly gripped her arm in reassurance before snapping out of the moment and back into command.

“Then what are we waiting for?” Rivet bellowed, grinning, “Lock and load!”

“Lock and Load!” Phoenix roared, and at that, Rivet grasped her combat rifle that had been leaning against the side and led the charge jumping out from the side of the ship.

They hurtled into the air, propelled by the trajectory of the ship, and landed hard on the roof of one of the buildings, ducking and rolling to brace the hard strike of the fall. Jet hit the roof hard, abrasive gravel scraping into her exposed shoulders as she gritted her teeth and rolled into the impact. She sprung to her feet in time with her companions, and after that the girls needed no further instruction. They all knew what to do.

With no hesitation, they sprinted to the edge of the building and leapt off, leaving the mechanised gunmen below no time to retaliate. They had calculated their assault well, and executed it with seamless precision.

Phoenix landed first, snarling ferally as she levelled her missile launcher and hit the bulk of the guards with a single blast, grunting as the recoil of the heavy gun slammed hard into her shoulder. Reacting to the blast, the rest of the mechanised guards ran towards the three attackers, armed and ready with shock batons and laser rifles. Before any of them could get a good shot at their targets, Rivet had already landed and, unflinching, downed more than half of them in a hail of bullets from her trusted automatic. Knowing her battle plan by heart, Jet quickly set to work, slipping out of the melee and positioning her sniper against a ruined concrete slab. With quick, steady fingers she deftly angled the scope towards the main door of the facility. Two last mechs armed with shock batons ran straight for Phoenix, who slung her missile launcher up into the air and brought it across hard into the side of them, taking both of the guards down in one blow. Bolts and sparks flew as their ruined metal craniums shattered shimmering pieces all over the floor.

Either side of the front gate a couple of sentry turrets bleeped into activation as Rivet, breathing heavily and fired with adrenaline, strode confidently towards them. As their barrels spun up, one of them was hit with a sharp, exquisite blast from Jet's sniper, and then the other. Without looking back, Rivet smirked and approached the door of the facility, with Phoenix bounding along at her side and Jet jogging to catch up, folding away the various parts of her sniper rifle and slinging it into the harness that was strapped to her back with shadowed leather.

“You're up, Jet. I sure hope you know what you're doing.” Rivet adjusted her grip on her rifle, shifting the strap on her shoulder. Phoenix dumped her missile launcher to the ground with a groan, and unsheathed her longsword.

“Gimme some credit, for chris’sake.” Jet murmured sharply under her breath, setting to work on the terminal next to the solid metal bulkheads. After some furious typing and a fair amount of muffled swearing, there was a short blare of a siren and the doors groaned open, “Got it!”

“Phase one complete, bitches!” Phoenix grinned wickedly, the sunlight gleaming off of her sword and sparkling in her eyes, “we’re gonna be ri-iiiich!”

The girls strode into the facility's reception, stopping just short of the front desk. When they were certain they were alone, Phoenix playfully dinged the bell that lay on the counter and looked up at Rivet, grinning childishly. Rivet eyed her in silence mock-sarcastically, and then she burst out laughing, white teeth gleaming behind a smile she couldn't contain. Jet joined in, warmed by her friends' light heartedness. This was exactly the way it had been before, the way things were meant to be.

Rivet, wiping tears from her eyes, regained her composure and prepared to brief the team.

“So, after blowing up the entrance like that, I’m pretty sure they know we're here. But that doesn't mean they know exactly where we are in the building,” Rivet took a quick glance around the room for points of interest, and gestured towards a security camera that hung from the ceiling to their right, “Jet, I want you to create a feedback loop on the facility's surveillance system so whoever's left inside can't trace us. After that, we split up. Phoenix, you're taking the security passages down to the facility's core. Jet, you're the one that knows whatever this artefact is so you take the main staircase. And me...” Rivet pulled out a small grappling gun from her hip holster, “I'll follow you guys through the air conditioning.”

At that, Rivet fired her grapple at the ventilation shaft above her, dislodging the duct cover, and shot upwards, vanishing into the shaft above them. Phoenix turned to her cousin incredulously.

“Next time I get the cool job, 'kay?” she huffed.

“This _whole job_ is the cool job, Phoenix.” Jet retorted bluntly.

“I know, I know,” Phoenix exhaled, before pausing, “Do you know what we should do?” she smirked, her contagious humour building up.

“What should we do?” Jet asked.

“We should just leave her up there and fuck off without her.” Phoenix threw her head back in what could only be described as a cackle.

Jet sniggered alongside her.

“What, so she can take the treasure and laugh at our broke arses from that ivory tower of hers?”

“Fuck, you’re right!” Phoenix exclaimed, “Come on then!” At that, she turned and barrelled down the security corridor, sword drawn and wild ginger hair flying out behind her. The sound of her footsteps disappeared down the hallway and dragged the warmth of light humour in her wake.

Silence settled and Jet inhaled a deep breath of the dry, recycled air of the facility. Her air sickness had subsided now, but she still felt uneasy. Even though this should be the simple part; she knew if her companions found out what she was up to her whole plan could be at stake. She had to get their bounty out of the complex and into the hands of her associates as soon as possible, or she would be dead meat.

She felt a sharp stab of remorse slide through her guts – why had she gotten herself into this mess in the first place? She was a paid assassin now; a contract killer, not a petty thief. She had thought those days were long behind her, but the caps were good and the people that had approached her weren't the kind of folks you say “No” to.

These weren't your run-of-the-mill jumped up shitheads that just wanted someone taken care of (like her usual clientele), they had far too many teeth to _not_ be something sinister. She had never trusted the corporate types – in a wasteland where survival was key, most people didn't have the time or inclination for subterfuge. Probably that piece-of-shit mob boss Brannigan sent them her way.He had never quite forgiven her for filling his nephew with lead back in January.

Sighing frustratedly, she assumed this was most likely some sort of bad Karma and resigned herself once again to getting this over with. Jet had never been very organised when it came to big jobs; and was nowhere near as physically powerful in a fight as her teammates. She couldn't have done this without them. But by involving them she also knew they could _all_ end up in big trouble if things went south. They couldn't know yet. Not until it was done.

Back in the moment, Jet shook herself out of her reverie and vaulted over the front desk to begin hacking away at the front terminal, quickly accessing the facility's security systems and setting up a 30 minute feedback loop on the cameras.

_That should buy us some time,_ she thought, carefully closing off the system to hide her tracks. It wasn't much of a cover up but she had scoped out the place well before their attack – aside from the mech gunmen defending the old archives, the facility should be otherwise deserted. Those tin cans could fire a laser rifle well enough, but she suspected that hacking a terminal was beyond their basic programming. Satisfied with her work, Jet patted the hilts of the twin daggers at her hips and ran straight into the depths of the facility down the main staircase.

Picking off the security from there was easy. Jet only encountered a couple of groups of mechanical guards in the hallways as she moved deep into the underground part of the facility. Deftly wielding her twin blades, with graceful, fluid motion she dismantled them, sparks from their machinery leaving acrid scorch marks on the peeling green paint of the walls. Jet had always been a perfectionist and she took great pride in her fighting style – moving and dodging the aggressor's attacks, gauging where their weak points were and striking viper-fast without hesitation or mercy.

Jogging briskly through the ruined hallways, she came across another wide stairwell and descended it, winking at a ceiling-mounted security camera instinctively as she walked past it even though she knew there was a feedback loop and nobody would see. Excitement had made her cocky, but why not have a little fun? This was her party after all.

As she approached the bottom of the stairs, her eyes widened in awe.

The facility had opened up into an enormous hall – high, whitewashed ceilings arched above her and the room stretched away into the distance filled with row upon row of pristine white shelves. Although they were dimly lit with the guttering yellow of the fluorescent lights clinging precariously to the ceiling, she could see that each one had been polished with forensic precision, not a speck of dust had been left.

Filling every shelf was a huge variation of unusual gadgets and gizmos, oddly shaped missiles and guns she would never have known how to use. _This has to be the experimental weapons archive,_ she thought, _I must be getting close._

Her sense of uneasiness grew stronger, sitting cold and hard in the pit of her stomach. The cleanliness of this single room, juxtaposed with the decay of rest of the facility, was deeply unsettling. Just like the people that had sent her here – their cleanliness and calculated manner was in stark contrast to everything else she had known since she had arrived in the States. It followed that the object she had been sent to find would be in similar condition. But a job was a job, and she was so near now. All she had to do was pick up her bounty and get the hell out of there.

And then suddenly she spotted it. Unmissable, unmoving, gleaming there in a glass case like the prize artefact in an ancient museum. The stone. This was what she'd come all this way for; secured back the Snow Betty, reassembled the old team, fought all those mechanical guards. It stood there before her like a beacon, like a challenge. Her nerve endings began to tingle with desire, a burning desire to reach out and touch it. This thing that bore so much hope... the promise of her freedom.

Something suddenly shifted in her peripheral vision. In the corner of her eye she noticed Rivet silently dropping down from an open panel in the ceiling, catching swiftly on to the side of one of the pristine white shelves to slow her fall, and then dropping noiselessly, cat-like, to the floor. It was clear her skills had not left her since she had turned her back on their thievery – mercifully Jet knew her sister was far too smart to let a good thing go to waste entirely.

Rivet pulled her rifle from it's holster and made her way cautiously across the room to her sister. She locked eyes with her and nodded quickly, their signal to proceed. Jet began to edge cautiously across the hall towards the pedestal, wary of any traps that may have been set pre-empting their success. As they moved slowly closer, Jet's mind focused more and more on the stone. Her thoughts of what she would do once she had paid off her debts of blood and vengeance were greedily creeping through her brain like the poisonous tendrils of a winding plant. In the back of her mind she knew she must be quick, if she waited long enough for Rivet to get suspicious about their environment then the whole plan could go to waste. She trusted her sister's judgement, but there was far too much at stake here to let go now.

Suddenly, there was a sound behind them like something exploding in a distant corridor. Then Phoenix burst, panting, into the room out of a side door that Jet had obviously missed when she had caught sight of her bounty. Phoenix opened her mouth to speak, charging up for what was with no doubt a tall tale about how many mechs she'd pummelled in the security corridors. Obviously sensing her companion was preparing for a rant, Rivet put a steady hand out, warning her to be silent. Heeding her friend's warning, Phoenix understood and held her tongue, joining them as they encircled the glass case and the stone.

“So this is it?” Rivet whispered, eyebrows raised in caution.

“Yeah, this is it.” Jet breathed.

She dusted off her hands, and then carefully lifted the heavy glass cover – a tiny mechanism clicking to hold it into place when it had reached its highest point. The three of them took a small step backwards and stood in silent awe of their bounty; their breaths halted in anticipation. The stone shone black like obsidian, resting ominously in it's sterile, polished display. Some dark quality to it meant it seemed to absorb the fluorescent lights of the hall rather than reflect them, and it had a strange aura about it that screamed _quality_.

It was beautiful.

Jet had understood from the moment she it, why her contractors wanted it so badly. It was definitely worth the trip out here, but for her situation she would have kept it for herself. Nothing in the world was ever locked away this tightly unless it was extremely valuable. But today she had a job to do, and she was no quitter.

Very carefully, she extended her hand in its leather, fingerless gloves and curled her fingers around her prize, savouring the familiar feeling of a victorious heist as it washed over her. The stone's cold surface bit her fingers, the weight of the thing reinforcing its quality. It felt satisfying in her palm, but she stopped herself from feeling too relieved just yet. They still had to get out, and Jet could sense her sister beginning to worry. Turning around slowly to face her companions, Jet prised her vision away from the stone and met eyes with both of them.

“We got what we came for. Time to go.” she enunciated, keeping her tone as level despite her heart pounding against her chest with the thrill of the find.

“Yeah, let's bust this joint. Place is givin’ me the creeps.” Rivet confirmed coolly. Her intelligent features were just beginning to furrow with thought, and that almost always meant that something was starting to get her back up. But Jet knew if they got out of the facility now, she’d just about be in the clear. She held on to that thought as they began to make their ascent up the main staircase as a unit. As their boots echoed on the tiles, some of the tension began to dissolve. It was then that Phoenix drew a deep breath, and launched into the spiel that she had been holding in since she had burst into the hall.

“So, there were like thirty of these guards, right? And I only had my sword but I just started, fucking, smashing the shit out of them...”

Rivet audibly sighed, and Jet felt her lips curl upwards into a broad smile. Thank God, things were back to normal. For now.


	2. Pursuit

As the  team of marauders stepped out into the rapidly cooling daylight from the facility's dingy reception, something quickly snapped Jet's attention away from Phoenix's ongoing bluster. She felt herself tense, her intuitive gut feeling was telling her that something was coming. Phoenix stepped ahead of them and stooped to retrieve the missile launcher she had dropped earlier. Anxiety flared aggressively inside Jet's brain.

_Not now. Not when I'm so close..._

Over the low rooftops of the old Poseidon complex there came a sound; distant first but it grew into a deafening thrum that was so loud that it shook the very floor. 

“Guys, look out!” she shouted urgently, her eyes frantically searching the sky with one arm raised to block the glare of the sun.

As she pointed to the heavens two vertibirds appeared, breaking over the rooftops in a blaze of reinforced steel and whirring blades. Jet felt her heart drop right out of her chest. These gunships were heavily emblazoned with Brotherhood of Steel insignia. 

_Shit._

The vertibirds landed a stone's throw from the trio, propellers whipping the air around them into a frenzy. Jet steeled herself, her fingertips subconsciously finding their way to the smooth reassuring wood of her rifle's stock.  As they looked on from inside the double doors, a Brotherhood Paladin in full power armour thudded out of one of the machines onto the bright pavement, the ground trembling at the sudden impact. Without a single moment of hesitation, he strode  forwards authoritatively  and raised a lethal looking laser rifle .

“Nice of the Brotherhood to join us, Jet.” Rivet barbed at her under her breath as he approached, more soldiers jumping out of the vertibirds as they grounded on the overgrown paving of the weapons facility entrance, “Don’t s’pose you’d know what they’re doing all the way out here?”

“That’s enough, scavvers.” The Paladin cut them off before Jet could retort, his voice gruff and commanding, “Hand over the artefact.” 

Trust the Brotherhood to cut directly to the chase.  Narrowing her eyes at him,  Jet clenched the stone tighter in her grip. She wasn't giving up. Not now, not ever. The Brotherhood of Steel could go and suck a  bag full of  dick s .

Beneath the taut canvas hood of his standard-issue Brotherhood jumpsuit, the Paladin’s  brown eyes locked with Phoenix's, who happened to be standing at the front of the group.  Quick to register the man’s attention, s he pursed her full lips,  and stared him right in the face, g iving him a bright smirk.

“We’re not giving you anything. Unless you want some of this?” she shifted the missile launcher to rest on her toned hip, and winked at him suggestively. The Paladin snarled in distaste, and Jet felt a smirk creep onto her face despite the growing troubles that were pulling against her insides. For all the trouble it had ever caused them, it was fun to see Phoenix at her old tricks again. The girl sure had style. 

The atmosphere was charged; energy bounced between the trio like electricity. Every person standing outside the Poseidon Experimental Weapons Facility just then was itching for a fight, although Jet sobered upon realising that the Brotherhood outgunned them ten to one. As she looked on three more armed knights stepped out of the vertibirds, all carrying top-of-the-range laser rifles. If they didn’t think of something fast, there would be no way they’d get out of this alive.

Out of the corner of her eye, she  spotted Rivet  flip a switch  on her utility belt discreetly, unnoticed by their new adversaries.  The  _Snow Betty_ . Of course Rivet would know what to do.  Overcome with anxiety, Jet clenched her eyes shut for a second, praying that the ship would get there in time. 

“I highly recommend you don't play games with me, scavver.” the Paladin snipped.

“But it’s so much fun!” Phoenix chirped, “C’mon, don’t you lot know how to relax?”

“You're trying my patience. I'm going to give you one last chance to end this the easy way.” The Paladin gave Phoenix a glare that could have burned a hole in the back of her head. 

“So the Brotherhood’s just hanging around places like this and waiting for travellers to do your dirty work for you now,” Rivet stepped between them, her eyes quickly darting to the horizon before landing back on the Paladin to meet his steely gaze, “Not very _Ad_ _-fucking-_ _V_ _ictorium_ of you,  is it?”

“I would advise you not to test me, scavver. The artefact you’ve found is of great scientific interest, and as a member of the Brotherhood of Steel it is my duty to ensure it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.” he punctuated the end of his sentence, making certain they understood whose the _wrong hands_ were. He flicked the safety off his laser rifle and a tiny red dot appeared directly over Rivet's collarbone. 

Jet could tell he wasn't buying their shit. She saw  her sister 's slender hand drop down to her right thigh and  clutch the grip of her side-arm  apprehensively . Jet swallowed,  a mess of emotion as she began to pull her rifle out of its harness .

But her doubts were quickly assuaged –  with what couldn’t possibly have been better timing, the sleek, cool sound of The Snow Betty's engines roared over them. The refreshing hum of its modified engines cut under the gritty rumble of the Vertibirds,  and was music to Jet's ears. 

“NOW, NOW, NOW!” Rivet yelled, grabbing her companions and darting sharply to the left, ducking rapidly in between two buildings. As she was dragged away by Rivet's firm hand, Phoenix blew the Paladin a kiss as he disappeared into the maze of the wider complex. The man bellowed something to his crew, but it was lost in the roar of the engines as the three of them sprinted away down the passage. 

O ne of the soldiers fired a warning shot that ricocheted off of the wall next to them, but it was already too late. As the girls ran full pelt towards a precipice at the edge of the  facility , the Snow Betty shot underneath. Led by Rivet, the three leaped again in perfect unison back into the safety of the ship, disappearing like lightning through the hatch.

Rivet rushed across the bridge and re-assumed control of the ship, flicking it off of autopilot and taking the command. 

“Fasten your seatbelts you lot, this is gonna get hairy!”

She yanked a lever pulling the ship into full throttle, and they took off southwards across the windswept, barren plains at full speed. 

Jet and Phoenix braced themselves in their seats, watching the world hurtle by from the front window. Suddenly the sound of a gunshot bouncing off the starboard side startled the crew. Jet had seen the miniguns that had been mounted on the side of the vertibirds – she knew the danger they were in, and it brought her fly sickness back in full vengeance. She felt the blood drain from her face and the nausea return like a kick in the guts. Her mouth filled with cold saliva and she swallowed it desperately. She had to trust now in Rivet's skill as a pilot to get them out of there alive. 

A staccato of bullets striking the outer steel panels rang out around the bridge,  and Rivet uttered a slew of curses which were just audible over the roaring of the engines. As another bullet ricocheted off of the cockpit she snarled and banked the vessel hard to the side, tilting the  air ship fully on its axis  as they hurtled over the wasteland . A hail of bullets, narrowly avoided, shot out in front of the Snow Betty indicating the success of the manoeuvre. Jet shrieked.  T his was the worst kind of flying. Every bone in her body was telling her she was going to die. Engaging the intercom,  and unfazed by the g- force ripping through the ship, Rivet engaged their pursuers through gritted teeth.

“Gentlemen, please. Can't we talk about this like grown-ups?”

Another hail of bullets peppered the sky in response.

“Don't make me come out there!” She chided through the tinny frequency of the outside speaker. 

The bullets kept on coming, so, levelling out  their trajectory , Rivet looked over her shoulder and gave Phoenix a quick nod. Phoenix's face split into a grin that would have put the Cheshire Cat to shame, unfastened her seatbelt and reached for her missile launcher. She knew exactly what that meant, and would answer the opportunity eagerly.

“Engines only, Phoenix. No casualties today.” Rivet warned gently.

Jet felt her stomach flip over and grasped the arms of the passenger chair with hands drenched in ice cold sweat.

“Ready or not!” Phoenix chirruped vibrantly, tossing open the roof hatch and swinging her missile launcher out to aim at the vertibirds in pursuit, the fury of her copper hair tearing in the wind. 

Giggling maniacally,  she fired a single missile that hit the closest gunship  square on one of its engine turbines. With a huge burst of flame and smoke and audible shouts from the crew, the pursuing gunship  belched out a plume of acrid smoke and  dropped juddering into the flurry of the landscape below.  Caught by the carnage, t he other Vertibird was forced to slow  to avoid a collision with the flagging aircraft ,  and dropped back to disappear behind a hillside.

Phoenix cheerfully ducked back inside the ship.

“That was AMAZING!” she gasped, filled with excitement. Jet allowed her body to commit to a small sigh of agonised relief.

_Thank fuck._

They’d lost their pursuers, and escaped with their bounty and their lives intact.  Maybe she was going to pull this off after all.


	3. Honour Amongst Thieves

The sun was beginning to set on the horizon as the ground sped beneath the Snow Betty and her crew. They'd managed to outrun the last of the Brotherhood gunships and were heading south-west, away from the Weapons Facility and the rest of their pursuers and towards the relative safety of the sprawling wilderness.

On board, Phoenix was making herself useful and had begun cleaning out the barrel of Jet's sniper rifle, cheerfully bashing out the gunpowder and buffing the stock until it was shiny. Behind her Jet was leaning morosely against the door to the ship's cabin, deep in thought. Her long dark hair fell in sleek strands across her face, heavy brows threaded tightly together in concentration. She was turning their freshly earned bounty over and over in her hands, staring down at it intently with her small mouth set in a hard line.

Rivet had glanced back to check on them from her seat in the cockpit before returning her eyes to the horizon. It had been a close shave getting out of there, too close for her comfort – but the smug feeling of victory that immersed her now was undeniable. It felt good after such a long time to be back behind the controls of her airship. After years of hard work modifying it, it had been a shame to give it up.

After they  had arrived in the USA the Snow Betty had been invaluable – both as a getaway vehicle, and also as a home. But as she had matured, taking things from other people had started leaving a bitter taste in her mouth. She was tired of the conflict, tired of being torn between looking after her family and being a better person. Giving up the ship had been the hardest decision of her life - but she knew that as long as she still had it, their lifestyle of taking whatever they could from whoever they met would only continue. It had to stop – the fighting, the stealing, the endless running. 

It had been so many months now; she'd been thinking she had left it behind for good, trying to choose the honest path. But Jet had just brought her hurtling back into the adventure she had once thrived on. She would never to admit it to her friends, but the adrenaline of the chase felt so good, the power and control at the helm was so exhilarating and so familiar. She had always enjoyed the big heists, and she reluctantly acknowledged that she had been good at them too. The lure of the old life pulled at her once again like a powerful drug.

Confident that they were out of the woods now, she tossed the airship into auto-pilot and stretched out languidly in her seat.

“So, you were right. I did enjoy that.” she exhaled, kicking her weather beaten boots up onto the dash.

Phoenix looked up from her work with a wicked grin a mile wide. “Did you see their fucking faces?”

In the far corner Jet broke her gaze from their prize and joined in with the conversation.

“Fucking Brotherhood. They think they're God's gift to mankind.” Jet grumbled darkly, stepping down to hover on the edge of the cockpit.

Rivet frowned at her tone. Since leaving the facility something had changed in Jet – almost as if a switch had flipped. She had become quiet... pensive. Rivet tried to chalk it up to the unexpected arrival of the Brotherhood, but she’d seen Jet deal with worse in the past. She planted her boots back on the floor and turned in her seat to face the rest of the deck. Before she could question Jet, Phoenix butted in,

“God's gift to _womankind_ , more like! Did you see that guy? He could show me his massive weapon any day.” she drooled.

“Phoenix, you are incorrigible. If you ever fuck a Brotherhood soldier I will literally eat a whole box of Abraxo.” Rivet remarked dryly. Their familiar banter warmed her a little, beating back the suspicion that was growing inside.

“I fucking will. Right in his power armour, and all over that vertibird. I bet those soldiers haven't had any in years. He'd be like a wild animal.” Phoenix continued, a perverted smile splitting her face.

“Maybe you should tell him that next time he's about to paint your brains all over the wall.” Rivet chided, her lips twitching upwards in a wry smile.

“Guys, can we talk about the stone for a second? I want to get this sorted as soon as possible.” Jet interjected. Rivet felt her expression harden. She should have known something wasn’t right in the first place. Now Jet was showing her true colours.

“Fine, let's not get ahead of ourselves,” Rivet raised an eyebrow, sighing to herself and stretching out languidly, “we need to find out how much this piece of crap is worth before we give Phoenix an intervention.” she stood up, briefly scanning the airship’s fuel gauge on the dashboard. _Low,_ she thought, _but enough to get us somewhere safe for now._ She didn't want to run the Snow Betty into the ground; but she also wanted to put a good distance between the group and the facility. Assuming Jet wasn’t about to drop a bombshell on them. Nothing would surprise her.

Turning back to the team, she approached her sister.

“Here, give me that.”

Rivet reached a hand out towards Jet, who flashed her with wide brown eyes before hesitantly offering out the stone. She grabbed it from her, trying to ignore her sibling's trepidation – she was used to Jet getting funny after a heist. _She_ _i_ _s a strange one_ , she thought. _Maybe it’s nothing_. _Perhaps_ _the adrenaline_ _has_ _g_ _o_ _t_ _ten_ _the best of her._

Peering in the fading daylight, she held the stone up between thumb and forefinger to examine it closely. At first it had seemed utterly black, but now it seemed to... glow... strange and subtle greens and golds rippled beneath its smooth surface. Etched into the polished exterior were some peculiar markings; a geometric shape of dots joined with lines, like a mathematically perfect constellation shimmering gold against obsidian.

“Funny old thing, this. I wonder why everyone wants it so badly.” Rivet mused, frowning a little.

“Those Brotherhood men... I wasn't expecting them to be there.” Jet mumbled gloomily from behind her poker straight hair.

“It's got to be as valuable as you said it was then, if the Brotherhood is sticking their nose in like this. But thinking about it, don't you think that's weird? Brotherhood jarheads showing up this far out?” Rivet met her sister's eyes for a moment, fully noticing her discomfort.

“I reckon that Paladin just wanted to see me in handcuffs.” Phoenix contributed slyly.

“Can it, Phoenix. The grown ups are talking.” Rivet snipped, suppressing a chuckle at her cousin's insistence.

Now that the mood had changed, something about this whole situation was beginning to niggle at her just as it had back in the archive hall. What was this stone they had taken? It hardly seemed worth all this fuss just for one little rock. Besides, how did Jet even know about it in the first place?

As if to reinforce the growing doubts gnawing steadily at her, Jet pushed away from the wall and began to slowly pace the front of the deck. Rivet knew when her sister started pacing it was never good news. She always got twitchy when she was nervous.

“It doesn't matter, we've got it now. Let's just sell it on and get this over with.” her sister said curtly towards the floor as her gaunt frame circled her companions. Rivet gave her a stern look, challenging her with the silence. Sensing the pressure, Jet quickly snapped, “I just want it out of the way, all right? The sooner we sell it, the better.”

Rivet turned the stone over to inspect the other side of it. It was oddly heavy for it's size, and hadn't warmed in her hand in the time she had been holding it.

“I don't like it Jet... the more I think about it, the more this seems a little off. Do you have a buyer for this? Why do they want it?”

Jet paused next to the pilot seat and glowered at her; her eyes drawn and hesitant, obviously ruffled by Rivet's questioning.

“What are you saying, Riv?” asked Phoenix, her bright features beginning to tinge with concern.

“All those mechs at the Weapons Facility, the Brotherhood of Steel turning up... I just have this feeling we might have kicked a bloodbug's nest here.” Rivet locked eyes with Phoenix, giving her a full dose of _“dude, please back me up”_. Phoenix picked up on it instantly, she could tell that her cousin was serious.

She wasn't joking around any more. Jet's reactions were only exacerbating her denial. Something wasn't right, she could feel it.... in the stone that rested implicitly in her palm, and in the atmosphere between them. The opportunity for the heist seemed to have appeared very suddenly, and she was beginning to suspect her sister's motives for bringing them into it. Why would she work so hard to bring them back together if that meant she had to split the reward?

If it was a reunion she was really after, she could have done it years ago. It dawned on her that slip of a girl was really a mystery to all of them. Her true feelings pooled and rippled beneath depths of personality unfathomable even to those who claimed to know her well - like a cobra she was as beautiful as she was deadly, and even Rivet, who knew her best of all, could never tell when she was bluffing.

“C'mon Rivet, you're no fun.” Phoenix said, trying to lighten the mood.

Rivet gestured to her companions, exasperated.

“Are you really gonna stand there and tell me nothing about this seems weird to you? What even is this thing anyway?”

Jet reached forward in a flash and snatched the stone from Rivet.

“Let's just take it down south and sell it off, OK? Then everything can go back to normal.”

Rivet flinched backward a little at her sister's sudden aggression.

“South?” she questioned. Jet glared at her.

“It's valuable. We took it and now we're going to sell it. You know how this works, Rivet.”

“Why can't we just sell it here?” Phoenix butted in. Jet locked eyes with her before digging her gaze into the deck evasively. Rivet could feel the tension escalating.

“Because that's not the arrangement.” she mumbled.

Rivet felt anger begin to build inside her like a loaded trap.

“So there's an arrangement now? Is there anything else you would like to tell us about this, Jet? Like who your fucking buyer is?”

“That's none of your business.” she snapped.

“None of our business?” Rivet exclaimed incredulously. She shut her eyes and drew a deep breath, hoping to pull all of her strength up through her feet.

“Yeah, none of your business. Actually, I think you're being really ungrateful. It was me that set up this whole thing. I went to great lengths to find you guys, and this is how you repay me?” Jet snapped.

_Ungrateful_... _The old Jet Special,_ Rivet thought, casting her eyes at the floor.

That old chestnut went all the way back to their time in England, and she hated it. She knew Jet only said it because she knew it would get under her skin. But even after all these years, it still cut her pretty deep.

Sighing heavily, she realised that her decision was already made.

“Enough. I'm not going to argue with you.” Rivet stated calmly but firmly, pressing her fingers to her temples, “We’re in over our heads, and I’m not risking our necks any further if Mistress of Mystery here isn’t gonna tell us what’s going on. As captain of this ship, I say we turn back and give the stone to the Brotherhood of Steel. They've got the caps, if they want it bad enough to chase us all the way out here then they'll pay for it.”

“Yeah, and you'll be eating that box of Abraxo because I'm gonna climb that man like a tree!” Phoenix added triumphantly. Rivet took a step towards the dashboard.

“That settles it then. I'm turning the ship around.”

Jet moved like a flash and was suddenly standing firmly between Rivet and the control console. She challenged her sister with a hard glare, dark eyes like obsidian set within her pale features, sparking with defiance.

“Sorry Rivet, I can't let you do that.” Jet warned. Her words were ice.

Rivet stood for a second, baffled by her sister's sudden assertion.

“What the fuck is going on here?” she demanded.

“You heard what I said. I'm taking it south. You don't know what's going on, Rivet, and if you don't let me do this, you'll never find out.” each of Jet's words was filled with a hint of threat now. There was something sinister in her sister's delivery – even for Jet with her mysterious ways. Her skin prickled with aggravation.

“Let me get to the controls, Jet.” Rivet laced her tone with warning, lowering her voice.

Jet stood firm, meeting her with a steely glare, determination burning behind her. It was obvious she wasn't going to budge, Rivet moved to push her sister out of the way.

She was met with a sharp flash of pain as Jet struck out and hit her hard across the face. Rivet fell backwards and Phoenix caught her with steady hands.

“What the fuck, Jet?!” she gasped. Jet ignored her and spun around towards the console. Rivet sprang back and advanced on her, ready to pull her away from the controls kicking and screaming if she had to. Jet grasped hurriedly at the dashboard hurriedly flicking switches, her face strained with concentration and panic.

“Jet, I'm warning you! You can stop this cloak and dagger shit RIGHT NOW.” Rivet bellowed as the lights on the bridge blew out in a sharp hiss, furious that Jet had hijacked the controls of her ship. The Snow Betty began to creak and shudder painfully. Rivet reached towards her and had almost clasped a firm hand on her sister's shoulder, when there was a sudden crash and the ship shook violently, completely throwing her off her feet. She heard Phoenix shriek behind her as the cargo hatch beneath her was shaken open, and Rivet's blood instantly turned ice cold.

Time seemed to slow down, everything started spinning. Rivet couldn't tell if it was from the ship itself or her own mind blurring over trying to make sense of what was happening. She couldn't stop it; everything was out of control.

“PHOENIX!!!” Rivet screamed her cousin's name as Phoenix slipped backward, losing her footing and smashing hard into the side of the open hatch. She watched helplessly, fear gripping her insides. Before she could do anything to stop it, the redhead disappeared with a scream through the hole in the floor of the ship and out into the speeding blur of the land below.

“PHOENIX?! PHOENIX!!!” she screamed into the abyss, her eyes frantically searching the blurred chaos that raced below the ship for a glimpse of her but to no avail. Using all her strength against the shaking of the airship, she pushed herself to a stand.

“Jet, what the FUCK are you doing?!”, she shrieked at her sister, her words lost in the howling of the air as it ripped into the compromised bridge.

The airship suddenly shook violently and Rivet was thrown off her feet again. She frantically tried to grab hold of something as her body skidded perilously down the deck and towards the open hatch. All of her muscles seized up, clammy from the adrenaline and confusion, disobeying her will to stop it. Grasping out manically for a handhold, she caught the hatches' hinge and her arm yanked painfully as the rest of her body slipped terrifyingly out into the open air. The ground below was moving at a hundred miles an hour, the wind whistling past her, pulling her backwards. She looked up at Jet, her eyes stinging in the rushing air, holding on for her life with white knuckles. Her sister was clinging to the pilot's seat, looking down at her, her face a shocking pale. Turning around slowly, Jet flicked another switch on the dashboard and the hatch creaked open further.

“Sorry, Riv. It’s for the best.” Jet murmured, her drawn face hidden behind streams of sleek brown hair. At that, the ship lurched suddenly. The bitter wind finally ripped the hatch clean off it's hinges; taking Rivet with it, bellowing with rage and utter terror. The last thing she saw of the Snow Betty that day was Jet clutching the dashboard with shaking hands, the stone clenched tightly in her fist.


	4. What Goes Around

The ship juddered and shook as Jet clung helplessly to the pilot's seat, drenched head to toe in a vicious cold sweat. The nausea had come back with a vengeance and more violent than ever, bile rose and churned in her throat with sickening aftershocks of what she had just done. She stared helplessly, petrified, at the screaming dashboard like a Radstag in headlights, frantic for an idea of what to do next. Alarms were screeching at her from every console. Time was moving in slow motion and she was powerless to stop it.

Frantically forcing herself to act, Jet rubbed at the hot tears streaming from her eyes with a clenched fist and pulled herself forward towards the dashboard.

 _If Rivet can fly this thing......._ she tried to encourage herself, _then so can I_.

She started with the red switches, flicking them off as the Snow Betty groaned and lurched with deafening creaks. Some of the alarms stopped, but the ship suddenly lurched forward, throwing her body hard against the cockpit. The force of the console hitting her in her chest was too much for her to take and her stomach let go, splattering pale vomit all over the windscreen. Winded and filled with bitter revulsion, she pulled down a lever and grasped the steering controls, knuckles drenched in stinking bile. The ship slowed, and she pulled down hard on the steering to level it's trajectory.

The shaking subsided a little, and Jet gulped a strangled breath of relief. She was still trembling violently from the terror and the sickness, but it was the guilt that was the worst – welling deep inside her like waves in a turbulent ocean.

_No, you had to do this. They'll be all right, they always are. Always._

With shaking hands, Jet eased herself into the pilot's chair and blinked into the horizon beyond the foul mess she had made on the dashboard. The world sped by and time seemed to hurtle just as fast, her mind racing a mile a minute.

The sun was starting to dip below the horizon beyond the hills in the distance. The trees slowly cleared below her and the ground began to drop, and the Snow Betty flew high over the falling plains. Jet was exhausted, and but she knew at this rate it wouldn't be long until she reached her contact in the South, and her mission would soon be complete.

Memories of what she’d done seemed to flash before her eyes. She had struck her own sister. But she had to do it – Rivet didn't give her a choice. They would never have listened to her without her giving her reasons, and too much was resting on her secrecy.

_It was for their own good,_ Jet thought to herself half-heartedly,  _it would have been worse if I'd let them get sucked into this._

With a heavy heart, Jet felt her eyes begin to drift shut. The exhaustion, fear and sickness were waiting for her to give in to them like mongrels at a carcass, but a new alarm brought her hurtling back to consciousness.

“ENERGY LEVELS CRITICAL – FUEL LOW.” stated a tinny automated voice.

“Oh, shit!” Jet cursed.

“ENERGY LEVELS CRITICAL – FUEL LOW.”

The alarm continued on relentlessly.

“I know, I know! Oh shit, shit, shit!”

The airship was flying dangerously low, Jet knew she would have to put it down or she'd risk a serious crash. Hoping to find a better landing spot, she tried to pull up on the steering. A cold bead of sweat ran down her back when the airship wouldn't rise.

There was a gut-wrenching, yanking sensation as the tail end of the Snow Betty snagged on the edge of a ruined vehicle overpass. The horrible sound of twisting metal reverberated through the fuselage as the tail of the aircraft was wrenched free by the force, and she was thrown forwards again as the ship skittered down to earth, alarms blaring from every direction. With Jet clinging on for dear life, the Snow Betty skidded abrasively down a grassy bank, struck a blackened tree head on and smashed to a jarring halt. Silence settled around her as the creaking metal dug down into the earth. One by one, the alarms quieted on board the ship as the power died.

It was over.

Static rang through her ears as Jet pulled herself unsteadily to her feet on shaking legs. She was badly bruised all over, but she was still alive. Whatever jaded spirits were watching her in this godawful wasteland clearly weren’t done with her yet.

Another wave of nausea rolled over her. She quickly wrenched the side door open, ran outside and doubled over, violently throwing up onto the cracked, dry ground. It was then that the tears finally took hold. She let go of her restraint and echoed gut-wrenching sobs into the night air as her body heaved and retched in shock.

What the fuck had she done?

Once she was unable to bring anything else up, Jet collapsed back onto her heels and stared up at the night sky. Her head was reeling and the aching in her body was almost unbearable. Acting on instinct alone, she hoisted herself up using the side of the ship for support and staggered back inside. The acrid stench of bile permeated the vessel, it almost made her sick again but she forced the surge of illness back down with a pained gasp. She didn't think she physically had it in her to cope with that again today.

She stumbled across the deck towards the rear cabin, and with a laboured grunt she heaved herself through the door, rummaging around on the floor for the white first aid box Rivet always kept for emergencies. Finding it was no easy task – when the ship had crashed everything inside had been thrown into disarray. Mercifully, she found it underneath a pile of junk that had been thrown from their bunks in all the confusion.

Digging out a clean Stimpak with trembling hands, Jet shakily prepared the needle and stabbed it haphazardly into her arm, sighing out slowly as the painkillers in the syringe numbed their way through her nervous system. The delicious pharmaceutical filled her bloodstream with blissful passivity, and she breathed a heavy sigh of relief as she began to feel something like normal again.

Once the Stimpak had sufficiently taken effect, Jet pushed herself up into a stand and began to prepare herself for what she needed to do next. She knew she needed to find her buyer, but she wasn't going to do that out here in the middle of nowhere. As the ship had come in to land she thought she had glimpsed the bright lights of a city not too far away, so she figured that would be her best shot at getting herself back on track. 

Fumbling for the hatch again, she became aware of how awful she smelled. Her long, sleek hair was now matted with sick and her clothes stank of sweat and crippling fear. Disgusted, she tore them off, casting them feverishly to the floor; and stumbled outside the ship. Lifting up the side plating which had been loosened after the crash, she located the water pipe and used all her remaining energy to wrench it free, spilling tepid water all over her aching body. She stood beneath the stream, washing the evidence of her shame away into the parched earth. 

When the flow from the pipe spluttered to a halt, she finger-combed her hair and headed back into the ship to find some dry clothes. After a small amount of rummaging, she settled for some old, ripped jeans and a ratty, oversized grey t-shirt. Hurriedly pulling them on, it occurred to her that cleaning and re-equipping her leather armour would really be the safest option, but she didn't have the energy and she was acutely aware that she was running out of time. Her contacts wouldn't wait for long before they sent out their search party for her. If that happened... she couldn't bear to think about it. She had no idea what these people were capable of, but from the moment she had met them it had been clear that they had money, contacts and an unknown wealth of technology behind them. 

Settling for what she had on her, she quickly grabbed all the caps on the ship that she could find, and staggered back outside to properly inspect the damage from the crash.

The airship was a total wreck. It's twisted metal had crunched and ground against the ruined tree it had crashed into. Amongst that, the main engine was coughing out plumes of acrid smoke into the breeze, which carried them gently away into the darkening landscape. The side of the ship was also badly damaged from where she had pulled out the water pipe, and the side door was surrounded with the grim, reeking evidence of her anxiety and sickness. Jet sighed heavily, and then regretted it instantly as the motion sent a stab of pain through her aching chest. There was no way she would be able to fix the ship in this condition.

_Rivet's going to kill me._

Jet headed back inside and stared hopelessly at the dashboard, which looked cold and dead now that all the lights were out. She knew that the switch for the cloaking device had to be on there somewhere, but she didn't have the first idea which one it was. She tried a few buttons but nothing happened – not even any alarms this time. Forcing herself to try and think sensibly in the moment, her mind raced over her current options, before concluding that she needed to find Rivet's backup power supply.

Jet knew where it was. Reaching down, she pulled on a crank tucked beneath the dashboard and the engine guttered promisingly for a second, before stopping and returning the world to ominous silence. She revved it again, and it replied once more with a short splutter of noise before it crashed out completely.

Jet folded her arms. She was getting nowhere with this.

She felt another twinge of remorse stab through her, but she ignored it. They should have listened to her. Rivet knew as well as she did how these things worked. If she had really meant it about quitting back then, she wouldn't have come. Shit happens. Her and Phoenix would just have to deal with it.

Beneath her inner monologue however, the last spark of regard she had for her companions told her she had to try and hide the Snow Betty, even after all this. After all, if Rivet found it dumped out here exposed in the wilderness she'd probably strangle Jet herself – if she ever found her again.

Not willing to take that chance, Jet staggered over to her bunk and pulled the blanket off of it. She walked back outside and tossed it over the ship's hull, taking a step backwards to admire her handiwork. The ratty wool blanket drooped over the side of the ship, barely covering the front of the wrecked cockpit. The White Rabbit logo Rivet had painted on the side of the Snow Betty years ago winked out at her from behind it, only his tail was covered by her makeshift disguise. The corners of the blanket flapped listlessly in the breeze. Jet sighed. It wasn't much, but it would have to suffice.

Focusing back on the task at hand, she realised morosely that she had to make it to her destination on foot; and the people she was involved with certainly did not take kindly to lateness. She was struck to remember the stone she had stolen, and was surprised to find it was still clenched tightly in her palm. Even though she had been holding it since she snatched it from her sister, she had quite forgotten it amongst all the drama.

It remained cool and heavy to the touch, and as she glanced down at it she almost felt as though some strange power was emanating from its cool surface. The oil-slick sheen of the thing glowed lazily against the fading daylight, making her feel deeply uneasy. She was beginning to resent it after all she had sacrificed to get her hands on it, and she silently cursed the wreck of the Snow Betty for not allowing her to get rid of the damned thing faster. Whatever it was, it didn't feel like good news.

Breaking her gaze with the artefact, Jet scanned the horizon as they sun finally disappeared in a guttering red aura of light. The stars were just beginning to appear, and she could see the hazy neon glow of artificial light beyond the hills in the South-East. The city.

Somewhat spurred by the notion of a hot meal and the possibility of finding some decent transport, she began her trudge towards the city's glowing lights, abandoning the wreckage of the Snow Betty behind her.


End file.
